2025 Preakness Stakes Odds, Best Bets & Predictions

By Adam Thompson May 16th, 2025 9:12 PM EDT

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The last time Bookies.com horse racing handicapper Adam Thompson posted picks for a Triple Crown race, he nailed the Belmont Stakes trifecta, resulting in a massive $500 win on a $3 wager for those tailing his choices. 

Now he’s back for the 2025 season, and his picks are locked in not for just for Preakness Stakes, but every race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday. 

Thompson has been crushing horse racing betting the last three years. Last year he cashed on eight of the 13 races at the Belmont Stakes Saturday, and won more than half the races at last year’s Preakness Stakes. 

Now he has set his sights on the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes. The nine-horse field goes to post at 6:50 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 17. 

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2025 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course

Saturday, May 17 | 6:50 p.m. ET | NBC

The Kentucky Derby is always the toughest horse race to handicap because there are so many horses, sometimes 20 or even more. The 2025 Preakness Stakes has nine, so we can worry less about getting caught in traffic. 

JOURNALISM (#2, 8/5 odds) was the favorite to win the Derby, ultimately taking second. Traffic was an issue early on for the favorite, and it won’t be here. No horse in this race that also ran in the Derby was even close to Journalism at the end. The Michael McCarthy-trained horse, who had won every graded stakes race before the Derby, can win a Triple Crown race here. 

Every wager we’re taking for the Preakness is headed by Journalism. We can make more based on the horses we place underneath. 

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RIVER THAMES (#6, 9/2), GOAL ORIENTED (#1, 6/1) and AMERICAN PROMISE (#3, 15/1) will be paired with Journalism on Exacta wagers. 

River Thames has just one win and took third at the G1 Bluegrass Stakes in April, but Todd Pletcher will have the horse in form. Bob Baffert has Goal Oriented, who has raced just twice but won them both, including an undercard race on Derby Saturday. 

American Promise finished a distant 16th at the Derby but has produced some of the highest speed times in the field. The D. Wayne Lukas horse has been dramatically inconsistent, but with those times paired with those horse racing odds at sports betting apps, we’ll take a flyer. 

We’re also adding SANDMAN (#7, 4-1) to our Trifecta wager. Sandman has finished in the Top 3 of five straight races before taking seventh at the Derby. 

RELATED: Best Preakness Stakes Horse Betting Promos & Bonuses For May 16, 2025

Here’s how we’re betting the Preakness Stakes and every race at Pimlico on Saturday. 

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Preakness Stakes Picks

• $10 To Win: 2 ($10)
• $3 Exacta: 2 with 1,3,6 ($9)
• $1 Trifecta: 2 with 1,3,6,7 with 1,3,6,7 ($12)

Pimlico Park Saturday Picks

• RACE 1: Exacta Box 1,7,8; Trifecta Box 1,5,7,8
• RACE 2: 5 To Win; Exacta Box 5,9
• RACE 3: Exacta Box 1,3,5
• RACE 4: 6 To Win; Exacta 6 with 2,5,7; Trifecta 6 with 2,5,7 with 2,5,7
• RACE 5: 3 To Win
• RACE 6: Exacta Box 3,5,7
• RACE 7: 2 To Win
• RACE 8: 8 To Win
• RACE 9: Exacta Box 2,5,6
• RACE 10: 4 To Win; Exacta Box 4,7,9
• RACE 11: 7 To Win
• RACE 12: Exacta Box 1,6,13
• RACE 13: Preakness Stakes, see above
• RACE 14: 4 To Win

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About the Author

Adam Thompson

More About Adam

Long established as one of the nation's premier handicappers, Adam Thompson joined Bookies.com in 2019 after a successful run as senior handicapper for SportsLine & CBSSports.com. He specializes in the NFL and MLB, where he's hit on well over 60% of his picks the past five years. Adam's NBA and horse racing picks have also produced consistent, major winners over the years.